The present invention relates to a system for generating a table. The system comprises generating means for generating a table which contains at least a column or line depicting one or more first categories and at least a column or line depicting first values associated with said first categories. The system further comprises selecting means for selecting one of said first categories by a user and adding means for enlarging the table upon selection of a category by said selecting means, said adding means being adapted to enlarge the table by adding a new column or line which comprises second categories into which said selected first category may be subdivided as well as second values associated with said second categories. Such tables are known from the prior art and are called “pivot-tables”.
One example of such table is shown in FIG. 2.
The table shown in FIG. 2 is composed of five columns having the reference numerals 100, 200, 300, 400, 500. In the present example shown in FIG. 2 the first column 100 comprises two categories 110, 120 which both may be subdivided in subcategories which are here called second categories. In the present example the first category 110 may be subdivided in four second categories which have the reference numerals 210, 220, 230, 240. As is shown in FIG. 2 each of these second categories 210, 220, 230, 240 may be further subdivided into third categories which for example in case of category 220 have the reference numeral 310, 320, 330. The table shown in FIG. 2 has been established starting from the table depicted in FIG. 1.
As is shown in FIG. 2 each time a further category is selected this further category is shown for all of the previous categories. In the present example shown in FIG. 2 column 300 contains third categories for all of the second categories represented in column 200. The same applies relating to the first and second, third and fourth, etc. columns. Thus, the table is becoming more and more complicated and space consuming which renders the representation of the table rather complex as may be easily gathered from FIG. 2. Further, representation of a table as shown in FIG. 2 requires a high amount of data which may lead to a comparatively slow assembly of the table on the screen.